Culture and Health Promotion Essay

Madeline Leininger is the nurse and anthropologist who first developed the theory of addressing the needs of the whole person within their culture, heritage and traditions. Her book, Transcultural Nursing: Concepts, Theories, and Practice (1978), gave rise to an area of nursing practice that has become known as transcultural care. Nurses continue to develop tools to assess the nature of an individual’s culture, traditions and heritage. The Heritage Assessment Tool, developed by Rachel Spector (2000, figure 6-1), identifies language preference, family dynamic, religious practices, educational background, and social standing. The information gathered from the heritage assessment combined with further dialog will allow the nurse to implement an indivualized, culturally competent plan of care. The heritage assessment tool was utilized as part of a series of interviews comparing the health traditions of subjects from three different cultures. The focus of the interview was health maintenance, health protection, and health restoration. Subject one is a 46 year old Hispanic female. Her paternal great-grandmother was born in a small village in Spain. Her maternal great-grand father’s was born in Mexico. It is interesting to note that while she has both Mexican and Spanish lineage, she most strongly identified with the Spanish side of her heritage. She clearly indicated she and her family spoke Castilian Spanish, not Mexican Spanish. Both sets of her grandparents and parents were born in the United States of America (U.S.A.). Her father and grandparents are bilingual, and come from a large family of 16 children. Her grandparents had very little formal education; her father attended school. Her mother was from a family of 4 children and speaks  Spanish as a second language. She received formal education and was a college graduate. Twenty years ago, both sides of this family lived in rural areas and in close proximity but have since dispersed across the country for employment opportunities. This subject’s family has a strong tradition of beliefs and non-traditional methods for health protection. They did not routinely seek out a physician but rather relied on herbalists and folk remedies. There was a strong spiritual component to this family’s traditions. Prayers, lighting candles during church services and saying novenas or the rosary were all considered to be important to health protection .With regards to health restoration; the subject’s paternal grandmother had a firm belief in â€Å"mal ojo† or the evil eye. When sickness occurred, it was due to â€Å"mal ojo† transmitting sickness through jealousy either consciously or unconsciously. Her grandmother believed many illnesses were the result of â€Å"mal ojo† and could be reversed through prayer and placing a bowl of hard boiled eggs near the sick person to â€Å"pull out the mal ojo†. In addition to prayer, teas were consumed for nausea or upset stomach; eucalyptus salve was applied to the chest for colds or respiratory infections, and mercurochrome was applied to any scrapes, b ruises, insect bites or reddened areas on the skin. Food was an important part of health maintenance for this family. The subject’s mother and grandmother both provided all the family meals which consisted primarily of fish, wild game and steamed vegetables. Food was never fried, and wheat germ was added to most foods, including desserts. The subject relayed that in recent years her family has moved into a suburban setting. Her grandparents now seek regular care from a physician. They also have mostly abandoned the folk remedies previously preferred and now use pharmaceuticals for health restoration. Prayer remains a large part of this family culture (P. Sanchez, personal communication, January 28, 2012). Subject two is a 46 year old Asian-American female of Chinese heritage. She has no knowledge of her grandparents who are deceased. The entire family migrated to the USA when the subject was three years of age. She is the youngest of three siblings, all of whom live within the same city. It is of interest that all the girls in this family have traded their Chinese names for western names and have married outside their race to men of Caucasian, non-Hispanic origin. In spite of this, the family maintains a strong culture of family unity and  respect for their ancestors. Neither her mother nor father read or write English; therefore, Chinese is the language spoken when communicating at home. All the children and grandchildren are bilingual. The subject shares caretaking responsibility for her parents with her sisters. To protect health, they practice healthy eating habits and engage in regular exercise. The subject’s parents walk daily, and practice tai chi. They drink warm water after each meal to ensure good digestion. In the event of illness, several cures are used to restore health. To reduce a fever, drinking cool water is believed to be effective. To alleviate a sore throat or cough, a vinegar and warm water gargle; for headache, cold compresses on the forehead and back of neck with massage; for body aches or pain, rest with meditation is the preferred remedy. To maintain health, this family again relies on exercise, meditation, and the use of herbal supplements and teas. Mint is used for digestion, ginger is used for energy. The subject shares that her parents are now receiving Medicare benefits and they engage in primary health prevention by receiving the influenza vaccine and yearly physical examinations (C. C. Lu, personal communication, January 31, 2012). This student was the third subject. She is a 55 year old Caucasian of Scottish heritage. Her mother’s side of the family is of German Descent and her father’s side is of Scottish descent. She is strongly identified with her heritage and culture as all of her family on both sides were born and lived in West Virginia. Her mother was one of six siblings; her father an only child. This subject was the oldest of three siblings. The extended family unit was active in the same church and participated in many of the same social activities. They took family vacations and were together for most holidays and birthdays. Her father and grandfather were both professionals; her grandfather worked as a teacher, her father as an engineer. Both her grandmother and mother were homemakers. English is the only language spoken in this family. To protect health, this family used a combination of folk remedies and primary physician care. Both she and her siblings were immunized as babies and r eceived yearly physical and dental exams. However, prior to seeking medical care for health restoration, her grandmother and mother would utilize herbal and folk remedies to include warm salt water gargle for sore throat, cool compresses to reduce fever, or eucalyptus salve combined with inhaling steam for upper respiratory infections. Mineral oil  was used to relieve ear aches and baking soda was dissolved mixed with warm water and then drank to cure indigestion. Hot chicken soup was a cure all for any type of sickness. Food was also an important part of health maintenance for this family. Her grandmother maintained a large garden and several fruit trees. She preserved every variety of vegetable and fruit and taught this skill to the subject. The family also would join together to purchase a whole cow and have it butchered. Meals were simple and wholesome. Exercise in this family was not structured but every member participated in some type of physical activity through school, work or church. In conclusion, all three families interviewed have similar health traditions. Two of the three have strong religious traditions. All three use herbal and folk remedies in much the same way. The interviews revealed a pattern of change in tradition that appears to be based on education, and access to western based medicine. As the family units evolved through marriage, immigration, or education, their reliance on western medicine increased. However, the use of folk remedies were not completely abandoned and continued to be viewed as an important component in achieving and maintaining wellness. By including the health traditions in the nursing plan of care and teaching, the needs of the whole person can be addressed: Culturally competent nursing is achieved. References Leininger, M. (1978). Transcultural nursing: Concepts, theories and practice. New York: Wiley. Spector, R. E. (2000). CultureCare: Guide to heritage assessment and health traditions (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Education/PH College.

Assignment Meg 5

Dhvani This word means â€Å"sound† literally, but does not deal with the fhction of sound in the musical sense. The theory was first propounded by Anandavardhana, the ninth century thinker, in his treatise, Dhavanyaloka (Dhvani+aloka). The Dhvani theory considers the indirectly evoked meaning or suggestivity as the characteristic f a e of literary utterance. This feature separates and determines the literary from other kinds of discourse, and is an all-embracing principle which explains the structure and function of the other significant aspects of literary utterance: the aesthetic &e,d or rasa, the figural mode and devices (alamkara), and so on. Related article: Fallacy of Absolute StatementIn Kapoor's words, â€Å"all the subsequent literary theorists in the tradition found the combination of rasa and dhvani theories both adequate and sufficient to analyse the constitution of meaning in Indian literature. † In his treatise I have mentioned before, Anandavardhana has given a detailed description of structural analysis of indirect meanings. According to him, if we can explain how indirect meanings arise systematically, we can claim that all potential meanings inhere in a text. Anandavardhana uses the term dhvani to designate the universe of suggestion. The soul of kmya is dhyani, he says). His preference for the term sprang from the fact that grammarians before him had used the term to denote several concepts. First, to denote the sound structure of sabda or words; second, to denote the semantic aspect of sabda; and third, the complex of the now revealed suggested meaning and the process of suggestion involved. Thus dr vuni theory is a theory of meaning (an Indian hermeneutics or sorts), of symbolism. The thrust of this theory is towards claiming a greater value for the poetry of suggestion.Anandavardhana integrates the theory of the rasa with his dhvani theory; that is, he says that dhvani is the method through which the effect of rasa is achieved. Rasa is the effect of suggestion. Mimesis For Plato (429-397 B. C. ), ‘poiesis' or what we call literary theory or even criticism was an imitation or, ‘mimesis'. (‘Poiesis' (GK) translates into poetry, in English, but the focus of these two term is very different, for the Greeks lyric poetry had a very small part to play as compared to the epic or drama. Plato and Aristotle moreover theorised not about lyric oetry, but about tragedy and comedy, about drama, so Richard Harland suggests the more appropriate use of the terms literary theory/criticism for the Greek ‘poiesis'). Plato called ‘poiesis' an imitation or ‘mime sis' because he believed drama to be a reproduction of something that is not really present, and is therefore a ‘dramatisation of the reproduction' (Richard Harland, p. 6). What he means is that in a play or an epic, what happens is this – the poet recreates an experience, the audience watch that re-created experience, they are in fact encouraged to live through that experience . s if they are physically within the time and space of that experience. Not only this, Plato, also goes on distinguish between ‘mimesis' and ‘digenesis'. â€Å"Mimesis' is the speech of a character directly reproduced,' whereas ‘digenesis' is ‘a narration of doings and sayings where ‘the poet speaks in his own person and does not try to turn our attention in another direction by pretending that soineone else is speaking . ‘ [Plato, quoted in Harland, p. 7). With this distinction between ‘mimesis' and ‘digenesis', it is easy for us to discern that drama is entirely ‘mimet~c' , whereas epic is mi metic only where dialogue is reproduced rii t e%:! t. where the poet t r l l s (lie ~ [ O I, il I ,d i ‘r IV. / $C' . I ! ] . iiurt, this is what larv called ‘ s h c ~111 ~:' , 1 1 1 t i ‘tcllii~g'r e:,pet>l~l; . l1l*zi~h owever disapprt . imitation, and i)1 tit~ln,ltiscdd ~alogue. ‘Mimesis', in Greek thought primarily meant ‘making' of one sort or another. This is well recorded in Plato. Plato gave a new metaphysical and epistemological perspective to mimesis, enlargening its meaning from ‘making' by human hands to ‘making' by universal force.Yet, mimesis, not only in Plato's definition but in the use of the concept in the whole of western tradition, always retained the sense of not only ‘making,' but of ‘making' a copy of some original which was never totally independent of the model. (Gupt 93). In Platonic theory, all art (techne) has been taken to mean some kind of manipu lation close to craft. In the Sophist, Plato has divided techne into acquisitive, productive and creative categories of which the last brings into existence things not existing before.However, the highest art, in the scheme of Plato is not music or poetry, but statecraft, which is compared to the making of a tragedy in the Laws (817B) and to sculpture in the Republic (420C). All production, in a general way, is ‘mimesis'. In the Greek usage, there was not only the term ‘mimesis' but others such as mithexis (participation), homoiosis, (likeness) and paraplesia (likeness) and which were close to the meaning, of mimesis. These terms were also used to show the relationship ‘between an im age (eidolon) and its archetype.Moreover, not only are objects imitated by pictures of them, but the essences of things are imitated also by names that we give to those things. For example, the essence or the dogness of a dog is imitated by the name ‘dog' given to that creature ( Cratylus 423-24). Similarly, reality is imitated or mimetised by thought, eternity by time (Timaeus 38b). The musician imitates divine harmony, the good man imitates the virtues, the wise legislator imitates the Form of God in constructing his state, god (demiourgos) imitates the Forms in the making of Ws world. With Aristotle the concept of mimesis undergoes a major transformation.It retains the condition of being a copy of a model, but the Platonic denigration is reversed. This reversal is based on a metaphysical revision. The permanent reality is not transcedental in Aristotle's opinion. When an artist makes an object, he incorporates certain universal elements in it but he does fall short of any absolute model of dniversality. Because of the universality contained in art, in Aristotle's view, art, as all other imitation leads to knowledge. The pleasure that mimesis provides is on account of knowledge that is acquired through mimesis, even though this knowledge is of particulars: And since learning and admiring are pleasant, all things connected with them must also. be pleasant; for instance, a work of imitation, such as painting, sculpture, Toetry, and all that is well imitated, even if the object of imitation is not pleasant; for it is not this that causes pleasure or the reverse, but the inference that the imitation and the object imitated are identical, so that the result is that we learn something. † (Rhetoric I, xi, 1371 b; trans. Freese qtd. by Beardsley 57) Besides possessing didactic capacity mimesis is defined as a pleasurable likeness.Aristotle defines the pleasure giving quality of mimesis in the Poetics, as follows: â€Å"First, the instinct of imitation is implanted in man from childhood, one difference between him and other animals being that he is the most imitative of living creatures, and through imitation learns his earliest lessons; and no less universal is the pleasure felt in things imitated. Thus the reason why men enjoy seeing a likeness is, that in contemplating it they find themselves learning or inferring, and saying perhaps, ‘Ah, that is he. ‘ Imitation, then, is one instinct of our nature. (Poetics IV. 1-6 ) As a corollary it follows that the artist is no liar, but on the contrary, leads us to Truth. However, Aristotle seems to have limited his vision when it comes to enumerating the objects of imitation. In Plato, all creation was an imitation of Forms, which were transcendental. For Aristotle, though the Form (eidos) of every object existed, it was not a transcendental reality but something within Nature which Nature itself tends to attain. Further, it is said that for Aristotle, Art helps Nature in this endeavour of attaining the perfection of Form.This interpretation of Aristotle's metaphysics has been based upon his two oft-quoted sayings, â€Å"Art imitates Nature† (Physics iii. 2 I94a 21. ) and â€Å"the artist may imitate things as they ought to be† (Poetics XXXV: I ). Amplifying from this Butcher has concluded: † If wekxpand Aristotle's idea in the light of his own system, fine art eliminates what is transient and particular and reveals the permanent and essential features of the original. It discovers ‘form' (eidos) towards which an object tends, the result which nature strives to attain. (150) There is little in the writings of Aristotle that can explicitly sustain such a conclusion. This discovery of the form (eidos) in objects tends to make Aristotle into a shadow of Plato. Aristotle admits that there is something permanent and enduring in art, but that something could be called eidos, is beyond substantiation from Aristotle's writings. Similarly, the dictum, art imitates nature, has given rise to many interpretations over the centuries. â€Å"It has been argued that the irrner principle of Nature is what art imitates.But if we follow out his thought, his (Aristotle's) reply would appear to be something of this kind. Nature is a living and creative energy, which by a sort of instinctive reason works in every individual object towards a specific end † (Butcher 155). The teleological and structural pattern of tragedy seems to have been transferred on to Nature by Butcher. This was a typical nineteenth century view of Aristotelian philosophy. Since the Renaissance, different definitions of Nature have been foisted upon Aristotle's dictum, art imitates Nature.For the purpose of drama, the most disastrous one was that of realism, which having captured fiction by techniques of portraiture, landscape, and caricature, transferred these on to drama. Aristotle was clear that a e purpose of imitation in drama, was to provide proper pleasure by imitating action. Mimesis of men in action was mimesis of all human life. Through music, the artist imitates, anger and mildness as well as courage or temperance (Politics v. viii. 5. 134~1 8) and ethical qualities and emotions. Similarly, he says, â€Å"Dance,'imitate s character, emotions and action† (Poetics 1. 5).We should be content to note that in drama he applied the general theory ef mimesis, which he thought, was both for the s&e of pleasure and knowledge. But even the Aristotelian affirmation of pleasure in art was not sufficient to free art from being constantly compared with its original, that is the worldly objects. This originally Platonic habit, has been strong throughout western criticism which repeatedly gauges art in terms of how truthfully or realistically it represents the world, how much of an understanding of the world can it bring to us, one way or another. , 3. 3 THE MEDIA OF MIMESIS 3. 3. 1 Rhythm, Language, and Haniony After stating that epic poetry, tragedy, comedy, dithyrambic poetry, flute or lyre playing are all ‘modes of mimesis,' Aristotle states that mimesis in different arl forms is achieved differently, and that the object and manner of mimesis is different in each case ( Poetics 1; 2-4 ). He states t hat the three media for all arts are as follows: For there are persons who, by conscious act or mere habit, imitate and represent various objects through the medium of colour and fonn, or again , by voice; so in the arts above mentioned, taken as a whole, the imitation is produced by rhythm, language and harmony, either singly or combined. Poetics 1:4 ) Leaving aside painting and sculpture which use colour and other forms (materials), the arts of performance like music, dance and drama, use rhythm, language and harmony. Flute and lyre use rhythm and notes only, and dancing uses only rhythm. But for Aristotle, rhythm is not a mere beat or a division of time, but movement with regularity, be it theemere movement of the body or that of notes. That is why, dancing, he says, imitates characteG emotion and action by rhythmical movement (15). -Poetry or verse whether creative or informative imitates through language alone, but dithyrambic and elegiac poetry, tragedy and comedy use all thre e means. In dithyrambic and elegiac poetry all three means are used together, but in tragedy and comedy now one means is employed, now Aristotle's Theory of Imitation Classical Cdtkisrn another (15). What is true of tragedy and comedy can be taken as true of all drama, satyr plays included. Aristotle's brevity of plan has prevented him from saying anything further about the manner in which rhythm, language and harmony are employed in drama.About the details of language (lexis) one can gather quite a few things from Aristotle's comments on language which he categorised as one of the six elements of tragedy. But the nature of harmony (which he called melopoiia and enumerated as another element of tragedy) is hardly touched upon by him. So is rhythm never mentioned again in the Poetics. No wonder, then, that one has to look elsewhere to gather information about the use of music in the Greek theatre. Aristotle perhaps took musical employment in drama for granted and, therefore, refraine d from stating anything further about it.But the result of what may have been for him a redundancy, was disastrous for the post-Renaissance readers of the Poetics. The practical art of theatre-music being extinct, the Europeans reconstructed a picture of Greek drama in which there was hardly any place for rhythm or music. Greek drama was envisaged as a primarily rhetorical affair (an impression reinforced by Roman tragedies) far removed from the balance of visual and aural channels of theatrical expression that ancient drama depends so much upon.But if Aristotle left out the details of musical application he was at least explicit in stating it as a medium of mimesis. However, he not only neglected but left out from his description of tragedy the visual content of Greek performances constituted by the physical movements and complex gestures of the actors and the chorus. More than their mask and costume, the Greek actors had a repertoire of highly emotive gestures, just as the chorus members had a repertoire of a variety of dances to create complex visual effects. CatharsisThere has been a sustained attempt to postulate that catharsis could be a common and basic aesthetic experience. But the very meaning of catharsis has been a source of conflicting interpretations. In the nineteenth century one major way of looking at catharsis was to take it as a medical term transferred to poetic criticism. Cleansing (kenosis) in the Hippocratic writings denotes the entire removal of healthy but surplus humours: Catharsis is the removal of the afflictions or excesses (â€Å"ta lupounta†) and the like of qualitatively alien matter (But cher 253). This doctrine of imbalance of vital forces later on called humours, as the primary cause of disease, is of purely Indian origin. As demonstrated by Filliozat, the science was well formulated in India as early as the Atharva Veda and travelled t o Greece through Persia). According to the Hippocratic theory, an imbalance among th e elements of air , bile (of two kinds) and phlegm causes each and every disease. The cure lying in subduing the overswollen element and restoring the balance between the four elements. Besides this well-stated medicinal doctrine, there was also the practice of curing madness through musical catharsis.The patients were made to listen to certain melodies which made them â€Å"fall back into their normal state, as if they had undergone a medical or purgative (cathartic) treatment† (Politics V. viii. 7. 1342 a IS qtd. in Butcher 249). It is further added that not only is catharsis achieved musically but that â€Å"those who are liable to pity and fear, and in general, persons of emotional temperament pass through a like experience; †¦ they all undergo a catharsis of some kind and feel a pleasurable relief' (Butcher 251).The nature of catharsis described in the Politics should be true for the Poetics, as Aristotle himself has stated that his observations are of a general na ture in the former treatise but shall be more detailed in a later work. Therefore, those who presumed that tragic catharsis like musical catharsis restores normally healthy emotional state, were not so wrong. But this rather clinical definition of catharsis does not satisfy the literary theorists. As early as Butcher it was felt there was more to it. â€Å"But the word, as taken up by Aristotle into his terminology of art, has probably a further meaning.It expresses not 6nly a fact of psychology or of pathology, but a principle of art (253). The tragic pity and fear he postulated, â€Å"in real life contain a morbid and disturbing I' element †¦ As the tragic action progresses, the lower forms of emotion are found to have been transmuted into more refined forms† (254). He further postulated that this purification is also a change of the personal emotion to the universal. Purged of the â€Å"petty interest of the self' (261) emotion now becomes a representation of the un iversal, so that the â€Å"net result is a noble emotional satisfaction† (267).It is not difficult to discern that catharsis is equated with aesthetic pleasure in which noble emotional satisfaction is an essential feature, â€Å"But whatever may have been the indirect effect of the repeated operation of catharsis, we may confidently say that Aristotle in his definition of tragedy is thinking, not only of any remote result, but of the immediate end of the art, of the Aristotle's Theory of aesthetic function it fulfils† (Butcher 269). Tragedy -Part IJ In my opinion, to raise the balancing function of catharsis to the level of . universalisation is to stretch the concept too far.CertC,-;rlyt, he restorative function of catharsis may bring relief such as a sick person feels upon recovery. But it is a presumption on the part of Butcher that universalisation takes place because the element purged from the dramatic emotion is that of personal â€Å"petty interest of the self ' (261). The Aristotelian catharsis, or for that matter the whole tradition of catharsis, by music or Dionysian orgies, has personal cure or satisfaction as its end. Inner restoration, but not the enjoyment of a new aesthetic element, can at best be the purpose of catharsis. The factors of enjoyment, of â€Å"oikeia hedone†, are ifferent as stated earlier. . Other than regarding it as purgational, there has been another m~jowr ay of interpreting catharsis. The dual concept of purity and impurity which pervaded the physical, moral, religious and spiritual life of the Greeks was the most deepseated factor governing their daily activities. The duality of pollution (miasma) and purgation (catharsis) was part of the Indo-European belief system. We find that in Greek plays, all tragic action is dependent on acts of transgression such as the murder of a kin, sexual defilement, affronts to deities, and so on.These acts brought pollution (miasma) upon the protagonist and the people ar ound him. In Greek religion there were prescriptions for expiation of such crimes, just as in India rituals were prescribed for purging of pollution. In tragedies, the very ritual of expiation was often enacted, as in the Oresteia. In most plays, the protagonist was expelled from the community by death or banishment; there was expulsion (kenosis) of the sinner and purification (catharsis) of a given location, city, grove or household. Whereas in some plays, as in the Oresteia, this cycle was shown in ,- itP n——. 1, . teness, in other playh it was shown partially. In some other plays as in Hecabe or Women of Troy, there is only miasma and no katharsis. Looked at in this way, tragedy was a depiction of the cycle of miasma and catharsis. To my mind, the annual enactment of tragedy was to reaffm the miasrnacatharsis duality, which was a major cultural value of ancient Greek society. In all ancient societies the purpose of retelling the myths, particularly on festive occasi ons, was many-fold; it was to preserve and transmit the stories, to re-state the beliefs they enshrined, and $0 relive the behaviour patterns sanctified by tradition.The retelling always had a ritual significance even if it took the form of dramatic enactment for the purpose of entertainment. Entertainment and ritual were intertwined in ancient theatre. In this manner, tragedy was a reliving of the pollution-purity cycle by both the actors and the spectators. The community, the protagonist, hisher acts, and the aroused emotions of the audience, all underwent a catharsis. In his analysis,of catharsis, Gerald Else has rightly grasped the spiritual significance that catharsis had for the Greeks, but he restricts the scope of purgation to the acts of the protagonist.For Else, remorse makes the hero eligible to the spectators' pity, and this pity along with the hero's remorse proves that the act of transgression was actually a pure (cufharos) act. Thus catharsis is the process of proving purity. As Else puts it: The filthiness inheres in a conscious intention to kill a person who is a close kin. An unconscious intention to do so, i. e, in intention to do so without being aware of the kinship as Oedipus did not know that he killed his father would therefore be pure, catharos. But purity must be proved to our satisfaction.Catharsis would then be the process of proving that the act was pure in that sense. How is such a thing proved ? According to Nicomachean Ethics (3,2, 11 lob19 and 11 1 la20 ), by the remorse of the doer, which shows that if he had known the facts he would not have done the deed. In Oedipus, the thing which establishes this to our satisfaction is Oedipus' self blinding. It, then, effects a purification of the tragic deed and so makes Oedipus eligible to our pity. (Else 98) From this interpretation it seems that Else does not believe that catharsis enefits the audience and their emotions in anyway. In his reading of the famous passage , in the Poetic s, catharsis is purification of the tragic deed and not of the emotions of the spectators. This goes against all other instances of catharsis as mentioned by Plato and Aristotle. The examples they have givenindicate a change in the mental state of the spectators or music listeners. Besides, it is nowhere indicated by Aristotle that pity in tragedy was aroused for the purpose of regenerating and purifying the sin and the sinner.He is more concerned with showing how we can feel pity for the protagonist. This feeling in us is more capable of providing catharsis to us rather than just providing that the act of the hero was catharos. If the concept of catharsis is to have any general utility, it must be persumed that the cycle of pollution and purgation (miasma and catharsis) effects an emotional catharsis in the audience as well. A harmonious view of catharsis which combines its spiritual, clinical and aesthetic effects is more in keeping with the unified approach of the ancients. Biogr aphia Literaria Biographia Literaria was begun by its author as a literary autobiography but ended up in discussions about Kant, and Schelling and Coleridge's perceptive criticism of Wordsworth's poetry and a comprehensive statement on creative imagination which constitutes his most signal contribution to literary criticism and theory. As was his wont, oler ridge has let his awe-inspiringly powerful mind loose on aestheiics, its philosophical foundations and its practical application in an almost desultory manner.The result is a mine of inexhaustible potential called Biographia Literaria to which critics of all shades of opinion have turned for help and inspiration and very seldom has any one of them been disappointed. Arthur Symons justly described the work as rthe greatest book of English criticism']. Coleridge has sometimes been accused of borrowing from the Germans, particularly from Kant, Sckelli~~angd the Schlegels, but most of his ideas were originally arrived at and, in my c ase. the system into which these ideas were f;tt~A as the creation of his own great mind. Coleridge's whole aesthetic – his definition of poetry, his idea of the poet, and h ~ s poetical criticism – revolve around his theory of creative imagination. From this point of view chapters XI11 and XIV of Biographin Liter~rri~alr e most sign~ticant. The statement of the theory of imagination in Biographia Litercrria is preceded by a prolix and, at time, abstruegn†;losophical discourse in the form of certain theses or propositions whose crs is Coleridge's attempt to define Nature and Self.Nature – the sum of all that is objective – is passive and unconscious while Self or Intelligence the sum of all that is subjective – is vital and conscious. All knowledge is the product of the coalescence of the subject and the object. This coalescence leads to the act of creation, I AM. It is in this state of self-consciousness that [‘object ar. d subject, be ing and knowledge, are identical'] and the reality of [‘the one life in us and abroad'] is experienced and affirmed and chaos is converted into z cosmos. What happens is that the Self or Spirit views itself in all objects which as objects are dead and finite.Coleridge's theory of creativeymagination is essentially grounded ir, ihis perception. Hence Coleridge's view of the . =lagination approximates to the ~riecvso l Schelling and Kant. Like Coleridge they recognise the interdependence of subject and object as complementary aspects of a single reality. Also they all agree about the self conceived 2s a totality: thought and feeling in their original identity and not as an abstraction. Thomas Steams Eliot (1888-1965) is probably the best known and most influential English poet of the twentieth century. His work as a critic is equally significant. l7. S.Eliot's critical output was quite diverse; he wrote theoretical piecesas well as stud~eso f particular authors. â€Å"Tradition and the Individual Talent† (1919) clearly expresses Eliot's concepts about poetry and the importance of tradition. Eliot emphasizes the need for critical thinking –â€Å"criticism is as inevitable as breathing†. He feels that it is unfortunate that the word â€Å"tradition† is mentioned only with pejorative implications, as when we call some poet â€Å"too traditional. † He questions the habit of praising a poet primarily for those elements in his work which are more individual and differentiate him Erom others. ccordingto T. S. Eliot, even the most â€Å"individual† parts of a poet's work may be those which are most alive with the influence of his poetic ancestors. Eliot stresses the objective and intellectual element. The whole of past literature will be â€Å"in the bones† of the poet with the true historical sense, † a feeling that the whole of the literature of Europe from Homer and within it the whole of the literiture of his own country has a simultaneous existence and composes a simultaneous order. † No poet has his complete meaning alone. For proper evaluation, you must set a poet, for contrast and comparison, among the dead poets.Eliot envisages a dynamic relationship between past and present writers. â€Å"The existing monuments form an ideal order amgng themselves, which is modified by the introduction of the new (the really new) work of art among them. † An artist can be judged only by the standards of thepast; this does not mean the standards of dead critics. It means a judgement when two things, the old and the new, are measured by each other. To some extent, this resembles Matthew Arnold's â€Å"touchstone† ; the â€Å"ideal order† formed by the â€Å"existing monuments† provide the standard, a land of touchstone, for evaluation.As with Arnold's touchstones, Eliot's ideal order is subjective and in need of modification from time to time. T. S. Eliot Eliot l ays stress on the artist knowing â€Å"the mind of Europe — the mind of his own country–a mind which he learns in time to be much more important than his own . private mind†. But he does not mean pedantic knowledge, he means a consciousness of the past, and some persons have a greater sensitivity to this historical awareness. As Eliot states, with epigrammatic brevity, â€Å"Some can absorb knowledge, the more tardy New Criticism must sweat for it. Shakespeare acquired more essential history from Plutarch than ost men could from the whole British Museum. † Throughout Eliot's poetry and criticism, we find this emphasis on the artist surrendering himself to some larger authority. His later political and religious writings too valorized authority. It is interesting that Eliot always worked within his own cultural space: religion meant Christianity, while literature, culture and history meant exclusively European literature, culture or history. Tradition, for Eliot, means an awareness of the history of Europe, not as dead facts but as a11 ever-changing yet changeless presence, constantly interacting subconsciously with the individual poet.He wants the poet to merge his personality with the tradition. â€Å"The progress of the artist is a continual self-sacrifice, a continual extinction of personality. † He suggests the analogy of the catalyst in a scientific laboratory for this process of depersonalization. The mind of the poet is a medium in which experiences can enter into new combinations. When oxygen and sulphur dioxide are mixed in the presence of a filament of platinum, they form sulphuric acid. This combination takes place only in the presence of platinum, which is the catalyst. But the sulphuric acid shows no trace of platinum, which remains unaffected.The catalyst facilitates the chemical change, but does not participate in it, and remains unchanged. Eliot compares the mind of the poet to the shred of platinum, which wil l â€Å"digest and transmute the. passions which are its material†. Eliot shifts the critical focus from the poet to the poetry, and declares, â€Å"Honest criticism and sensitive appreciation are directed not upon the poet but upon the poetry. † Eliot sees the poet's mind as â€Å"a receptacle for seizing and stonng up numberless feelings,phrases, images, which remain there until all the particles which can unite to form a new compound are present together. He says that concepts like â€Å"sublimity†, â€Å"greatness† or â€Å"intensity† of emotion are irrelevant. It is not the greatness of the emotion that matters, but the intensity of the artistic process, the pressure under which the artistic hsion takes place, that is important. In this way he rejects the Romantic emphasis on ‘genius' and the exceptional mind. Eliot refutes the idea that poetry is the expression of the personality of the poet. Experiences important for the man may have no place in his poems, and vice-versa. The emotions occasioned by events in the personal life of the poet are not important.What matters is the emotion transmuted into poetry, the feelings expressed in the poetry. â€Å"Emotions which he has never experienced will serve his turn as well as those familiar to him†. Eliot says that Wordsworth's formula is wrong. (Iam sure you would remember Wordsworth's comments on poetry in the Preface to the Lyrical Ballads: â€Å"Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling: it takes its origins from emotion recollected in tranquility. â€Å") For Eliot, poetryls not recollection of feeling, â€Å"it is a new thing resulting from the concentration of a very great number of experiences . . it is a concentration which does not happen consciously or of deliberation. † Eliot believes that â€Å"Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape fiom emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from pers onality. † For him, the emotion of art is impersonal, and the artist can achieve this impersonality only by cultivating the historical sense, by belng conscious of the tradition It is now generally believed that Eliot's idea of tradition is rather narrow in two respects.First, he's talking of simply the poetic tradition and neglects the fact that even the poetic tradition is a complex amalgam of written and oral poetry and the elements that go into them. It was only in later writings that he realised the fact that in ibc making of verse many elements are involved. In his wntlngs on poetic drama he glves evidence of having broadened his scope. Second, Eliot is neglecting other traditions that go into social formations. When he iatrr wrote ‘Religion and Literature', he gives more scope to non-poebc elements of tradition. On these considerations one can say that he develops'his ideas on tradition T.S. Eliot throughout his literary career – right up to the time he wro te ‘Notes Towards a Definition of Culture' in which traditionis more expansive than in his earlier writings. Dissociation of sensibility is a literary term first used by T. S. Eliot in his essay â€Å"The Metaphysical Poets†[1] It refers to the way in which intellectual thought was separated from the experience of feeling in seventeenth century poetry. Eliot used the term to describe the manner by which the nature and substance of English poetry changed â€Å"between the time of Donne or Lord Herbert of Cherbury and the time of Tennyson and Browning. In this essay, Eliot attempts to define the metaphysical poet and in doing so to determine the metaphysical poet’s era as well as his discernible qualities. â€Å" We may express the difference by the following theory: The poets of the seventeenth century, the successors of the dramatists of the sixteenth, possessed a mechanism of sensibility which could devour any kind of experience. They are simple, artificial, d ifficult, or fantastic, as their predecessors were; no less nor more than Dante, Guido Cavalcanti, Guinicelli, or Cino.In the seventeenth century a dissociation of sensibility set in, from which we have never recovered; and this dissociation, as is natural, was aggravated by the influence of the two most powerful poets of the century, Milton and Dryden. † Theory of dissociation of sensibility The theory of dissociation of sensibility rests largely upon Eliot’s description of the disparity in style that exists between the metaphysical poets of the sixteenth and early seventeenth century and the poets of the late seventeenth century onward.In â€Å"The Metaphysical Poets,† [1] Eliot claims that the earlier grouping of poets were â€Å"constantly amalgamating disparate experience† and thus expressing their thoughts through the experience of feeling, while the later poets did not unite their thoughts with their emotive experiences and therefore expressed thoug ht separately from feeling. He explains that the dissociation of sensibility is the reason for the â€Å"difference between the intellectual and the reflective poet. † The earlier intellectual poet, Eliot writes, â€Å"possessed a mechanism of sensibility which could devour any kind of experience. When the dissociation of sensibility occurred, â€Å"[the] poets revolted against the ratiocinative, the descriptive; they thought and felt by fits, unbalanced; they reflected. † Thus dissociation of sensibility is the point at which and the manner by which this change in poetic method and style occurred; it is defined by Eliot as the loss of sensation united with thought. Eliot uses John Donne’s poetry as the most prominent example of united sensibility and thought. He writes, â€Å"[a] thought to Donne was an experience; it modified his sensibility. Eliot’s apparent appreciation of Donne’s ability to unify intellectual thought and the sensation of fee ling demonstrates that he believes dissociation of sensibility to be a hindrance in the progression of poetry. Eliot asserts that despite the progress of refined language, the separation between thought and emotion led to the end of an era of poetry that was â€Å"more mature† and that would â€Å"wear better† than the poetry that followed. Deconstruction Deconstruction has been variously presentehs a philosophical position, a political or intellectual stance or just simply as a strategy of reading.As students of literature and literary theory, we should be interested in its power as a mode of reading; therefore most of the points about Deconstruction in this Block will be made through instances of reading literature and philosophy. Let us begin here with a simple reading of Derrida describing a general strategy of Deconstruction: Every philosophical argument is structured in terms of oppositions and in this â€Å"traditional philosophical opposition we have not a pea ceful co-existence of facing terms but a violent hierarchy.One of the terms dominates the other (axiologically, logically etc. ), occupies the commanding position. To deconstruct the opposition is above all, at a particular moment to reverse the hierarchy†. Deconstruction, Derrida implies, looks upon a text as inherently riddled with hierarchical oppositions. A deconstructive reading uncovers not only these hierarchical oppositions but also shows that the superior term in the opposition can be seen as inferior. When we put together some other strategies of Deconstruction outlined in Derrida's writings, a working definition begins to emerge. To deconstruct a discourse is to show how it undermines the philosophy it asserts, or the hierarchical opposition on which it relies, by identifying in the text and then dismantling the rhetorical operations that produce the supposed ground of argument, the key concept or premise. † This explanation by Jonathan Culler is comprehensive . So, let us treat it as a companion to the description by Derrida cited above in order to advance our working idea of Deconstruction. Broadly speaking Derrida and Culler are making these points: 1. ‘ Deconstruction is a â€Å"searching out† or dismantling operation conducted on a discourse to show: . How the discourse itself undermines the argument (philosophy) it asserts. 3. One way of doing it is to see how the argument is structured/[email  protected], that is investigate its rhetorical status or argumentative strategy. As Derrida argues, this struchkis often the product of a hierarchy in which two opposed terms are presented as superior and inferior. Deconstruction then pulls the carpet from below the superior by showing the limited basis of its superiority and thus reverses the hierarchy, making the superior, inferior. 4. This reversed hierarchy is again open to the same deconstructive operadon.In a way, Deconstruction is a permanent act of destabilization. .So, Deconstruction points to a fallacy not in. the way the first or second hierarchy is constructed but in the very process of creating hierarchies in human thought (which as I have stated earlier, is indispensable to most if not all human arguments or thought. ). Deconstruction does not lead us from a faulty to a correct way of thinking I or writing. Rather it shows us the limitations of human thought operating through I language even while harboring the same limitations itself.Every deconstructive operation relies on the same principle it sets out to deconstruct and is thus open to deconstruction itself. Yet, Deconstruction is not simply about reversing hierarchieMough it is one of the I things a deconstructive analysis achieves. Fundamentally, it is a way of understanding the structure of a discourse, locating its controlling centre and identifying the unfounded assumptions on which it relies to function as a discourse. It may be compared to a probing operation that uncovers fault l ines in a discourse, which may include ideological assumptions and suppositions .

Active role of the audience in watching Big Brother Australia Essay

Active role of the audience in watching Big Brother Australia - Essay Example Big Brother seems to be a global phenomenon as each locality outdoes the other, including its origin country Netherlands. Popular as it already is, networks are alleged to hype up matters to feed escalating rates and viewer statistics. In the Week ten episode of Big Brother, on July 1, a sexual misconduct, considered as a â€Å"taboo† or a violation of â€Å"house rules† was alleged to have happened. Male participants John and Ashley grabbed Camilla at around 4 in the morning, took her to a bed, with Ashley reportedly slapped her face while John held her down. The two were removed from the house with an escort. As active audience, mostly teenagers wondering what happened, the official website of Big Brother Australia was flooded with inquiries that it had to be pulled out. Another website, Behind Big Brother Australia, later claimed it was due to sexual harassment. The incident infuriated not only fans which basically form the active audience but also bystanders such as politicians.For me, as I do not favour sexual liberalism, I agree with the politicians that called out for the banning of the show. It is not that I am totally against it, but I am against the way the show is carried out with sexual innuendoes from start to finish. here is so much trouble already about sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS, not to mention emotional battery one person undergoes when jilted, or abandoned by a lover, or partner, and to indulge in such circumstances is like playing with fire as can be equated to Big Brother show.

Referencing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Referencing - Essay Example Secondly, points of view also vary greatly within a given piece of written work. While some points of view agree within a given subject matter, others disagree in one way or another. In this respect, referencing comes in to cite differences between points of view. The third reason why references are used in writing is to strengthen a study. Past research that leads up to current technical or academic writing enhances the topic of study. Here, referencing captures previous research findings or outcomes that are relevant to the insights the writer wants to present. Finally, referencing is used to direct readers to the original source of cited information. Readers may want to refer to the original source following the contents of technical or academic writing. Referencing, therefore, acts as the bridge between readers and the main source of cited information. Technical writing is critical to the success of an engineer. In technical writing, engineers reference in various areas and for different reasons. The first area where engineers use referencing in technical writing is in defining terms used in product descriptions. Products designed by engineers often carry terms that are difficult for the layman level of understanding. For this reason, engineers need to define all terms that are not commonly used in day-to-day language. In the process, they may need to reference the source of such definitions or acknowledge the original text from which information is derived. Technical reports constitute the second area where engineers use referencing. Before an engineering project is approved for implementation, series of tests could be conducted and the results computed. These tests and result computations are followed by a professional report to the relevant personnel. To prove the validity and the credibility of such reports, engineers need to cite the different methods, analysis, and procedures employed in the testing process. This may

Would you have signed the Constitution of 1787 Essay

Would you have signed the Constitution of 1787 - Essay Example purposes of the Constitution is posted at the exact beginning of the document, stating, â€Å"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity [†¦].† That in itself is a set of rules that the government can follow. It lists aspects that they should be aware of when they make decisions, and the people that should be considered during the decision-making process. The Constitution of 1787, as opposed to any other government-based documents, is the best plan for the government because it focuses on the more important aspects of the government system itself. The important positions are pointed out, as well as their tasks and duties. There are numerous positions in the government, each with varying jobs and tasks. The Constitution helps to keep people on track with what they need to be doing. It goes into heavy detail about what a member can or cannot do, as well as the specifics of each branch. This document is perfect for the government as it can keep things from going completely out of control, and it centers in on the things that are most important to the people. The Constitution also goes into the process by which a bill is considered, created, and enforced, which most definitely proves helpful when large groups of people are at ends with what to do. There are other â€Å"how-to† instructions in the Constitution, adding further to the fact that the Constitution can be viewed as appropriate guidelines for running a stable government. How one votes and how someone is chosen for a specific job is also mentioned throughout the document. The Constitution is the perfect set of guidelines to be looked at for any government system, really. It is something that really suits the workings of the United States of America. However, if I were around during the signing of it, I

Volcanic Smog in Hawaii Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Volcanic Smog in Hawaii - Essay Example The volcanic smog created by Kilauea volcano is hazardous to the surrounding population as well as the whole island, economically, socially, environmentally, and physically. A volcanic smog results when sulfur dioxide mixes with different other gases, moisture, and sunlight in the atmosphere. Sulfur dioxide is produced, whether the volcanic activity was small or big. The effects of volcanic smog are greatly felt by those people living very close to the volcano. However, those living far away from the volcano are still affected, though in a lower measure. This is mainly because of the action of winds, which transfer the smog to different areas. In Hawaii, it is estimated that there has been approximately 50 volcanic eruptions in the twentieth Century only (Rado Web). Water in the area is greatly affected by the volcanic smog. First, there is the formation of acidic rain when sulfur dioxide in the gases emitted reacts with Oxygen in the air. The acid rain is lethal to plants, animals, and human beings. This therefore leads to other major effects. People in Hawaii Island mainly depended on rooftop rainwater for drinking and domestic and farm use. Therefore, when the volcanic smog results in acidic rain, this means the people cannot benefit from this water, as it is not safe for any use. This water cannot be drunk as it is contaminated. Therefore, they have to look for alternative sources of water for domestic use. Similarly, the acidic rain is not good for plants and other organisms. Most people in Hawaii Island practise farming as their main source of income. They plant different crops including flowers in plantations. When acidic rain occurs, the crops in plantations are destroyed, and this has forced most farmers living around Kilauea Volcano to abandon farming and look for alternative means of survival (â€Å"NCBCNEWS† Web). The sulfur dioxide in the volcanic smog has had disastrous effects on one Kau district. Many farms and nurseries have been destroy ed, in addition to putting at risk flower and vegetable farms and other crops such as tomatoes, lettuce, medical marijuana, as well as sunflower, and roses. The Hawaii government, because of the economic depression has not been able to compensate farmers for the losses, forcing most farmers to relocate. This has therefore disrupted the economic and social set-up of people, including farmers, as some have been compelled to move out of Hawaii in search of different jobs (â€Å"NCBCNEWS† Web). Apart from the economic effects, volcanic smog also affects the health of people. The volcanic smog comprises a variety of dangerous gases, and small particles and droplets that have high levels of acidity. All these can be inhaled by people, to rest in the lungs. This affects the mucus membrane and lungs, as well as lung function. This is in addition to the worsening of lung conditions such as asthma, and bronchitis, among others (â€Å"MedlinePlus.† Web). In 1997, the National Ins titute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) noted that respiratory problems due to sulfur vapors mostly affect young children (Rado Web).This is because their lungs are still developing and so might have long-term effects on the children. This puts at the risk the future population of Hawaii Island, as these children are the future of the society. Collaborating with the Hawaii Department of Health, the NIEHS conducted a health research in Hawaii to establish the relationship between volcanic smog and

Boutique Hotels vs. Chain Hotels Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Boutique Hotels vs. Chain Hotels - Essay Example The variety of kinds of hotels offers a selection according to one’s preferences. The availability of chain hotels and boutique hotels enable the customer to consider the selections and what each can offer. Chain and boutique hotels may be compared in terms of branding, experience and value for money. Hotel branding is a fundamental aspect of providing a distinct characteristic to the establishment. Historically, the hotel industry is an interesting study of the market and the ups and downs of the economy. Hotel franchising is widely attributed to Kemmons Wilson who founded the ever popular Holiday Inns by offering the brand to investors who are willing franchisees. The franchisor, in turn, provides for a centralized development of the product that is consistent with the franchise name in all of its important aspects. Consequently, others followed suit and the Mariott, Radisson, Hyatt, Ramada, Hilton and Howard Johnson came into existence. Perceptively, brand awareness for the se chain hotels yields a customer base that patronizes the brand as a whole but with concurrent disadvantaged for the franchisees and the franchisor (Langois 7-9). On the other hand, independent hotels such as boutique hotels thrive by providing a unique brand that caters to a particular niche in the market by taking advantage of a good location, a personalized level of service and a different offering specifically for its target market. Technology has afforded boutique hotels to develop their individual brands to compete with the encompassing scope that chain hotels have through internet marketing tools and with the help of organizations like Leading Hotels of the World and Preferred Hotels that promote them (ibid 13-14). Subsequent to branding, the experience of staying in a hotel is a main goal for engaging the market. Ensuring that the clientele are satisfied with their accommodations and that the companies offer the amenities that are necessary for a comfortable stay is the mai n thrust of the industry. The emergence of boutique hotels as a suitable alternative to well-known chain hotels had become more prevalent in the recent years. These boutique hotels are independent and usually owned by a single or individual group of people venturing in the business. They are smaller in scale with around 100 rooms but where they lack in size they make up for in service as they are able to customize a personal kind of service because of the ideal number of guests (Balekjian and Sarheim 2). The difference between the definition of a boutique and chain hotel is difficult to categorically sum-up. Boutique hotels are associated as being design-oriented and offering a unique experience than the typical notion of a hotel while international chains have been known to be â€Å"standardized business hotels and scrutinized for providing consistency at the risk of being impersonal at each location and property† (ibid 3). A particular market group may be more at ease with chain hotels with homogeneous services while some may be more obliging to stay at a place that is distinctively with its own flare. Many new innovations are emerging in the hotel industry to answer the varied growing needs of the clientele. The boutique hotel sector is proving itself as a formidable substitute to the conventional hotel chains that are common sights in many destinations. Realizing the most value for money is now a major category in how

SCIE UNIT 5 IP Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

SCIE UNIT 5 IP - Research Paper Example The OPA law was initiated as a remedy to oil spills and in particular following the disastrous Exxon Valdez spill at Alaska Prince William Sound. OPA law was passed to streamline the federal responses in cases of oil spill. Here, the law provides that the federal government direct the oil vessels and storage facilities to make proper plans for spill response and further plan for their rapid implementation. In addition, the OPA law was passed as a measure to amplify Polluters liability with regard to damage and cleanup costs to natural resources. This law also imposes measures like phasing out of single hauler tanker, designed to check tanker safety and mitigate spillage. Tanker vessels thought to exceed 3,000 gross tons have their liability increased to 1200 dollars per gross ton or 10 million dollars. Responsible parties with facilities situated onshore and the deep-water ports carry a liability amounting to about 350 million dollars per spill. This law also provides that holders of permits or leasers for offshore amenities, with the exception of deep-water ports shoulder a liability of up to 75 Million dollars per spill in addition to the removal costs. In all this cases, the federal government maintains the sole authority of making any necessary adjustment to the 350 million dollar liability limit established with regard to onshore facilities but only through regulations (US Environmental Protection Agency). The fine associated with failure to notify relevant federal discharge agency is increased from 10,000 dollars maximum to 250,000 dollars maximum for cases involving individuals and 500,000 dollars for organizations. This law also extends the prison term from a maximum of 1 year to a maximum of five years. Violations is treated under this law is addressed with fine not exceeding 250,000 dollars and a 15 year jail term. Regarding civil penalties, the law authorizes

Print ad Like Advertisement of Land Rover Term Paper

Print ad Like Advertisement of Land Rover - Term Paper Example One unique characteristic of media advertisement is the use of catchy words and slogans that are aimed at attracting the public to the advertisement. Apart from the wording used, it is critical to pay keen attention to the font size and color design of the words as they define the readability of the advertisement. With a tasteful word choice and appealing color and font articulation, it becomes possible for an advertisement to capture the attention of its viewers [Rampur Para. 4]. The marketing strategists in the Jaguar Land Rover group have paid keen attention to the language used to refer to their brands. ... According to Rampur (Para. 1), while designing a print advertisement, it is crucial to pay keen attention to the graphical appearance of the media. The product must be captured accurately and in the most appealing manner to ensure that it elicits a positive attitude to attract the users' attention. Research has shown that customer tastes are influenced by the attitude that the public has for a product and that the use of appealing graphics is the way to create this attitude. Land rover advertisement can be termed as successful as far as the use of graphics is concerned and the reaction of the public can be observed from the attitude of the public today as regards the superiority of this product. In an advertisement of the Landrover, the brand LR3 was captured in what seems to be a sunset, which gave this brand a shiny appearance that is very appealing to the public. Another element of effective print advertisement that the marketing strategists have paid keen attention is the use of non-verbal impression within the advertisement [Rampur Para. 3]. The Land Rover marketing team have as much as possible capturing the unique features of this vehicle by using non-verbal impression in the image design. The unique feature of the land rover is its ability to move in all manners of terrain, whether smooth or rough, and its power to overcome mountains.     

Business Studies - Marketing Mix Essay Example for Free

Business Studies Marketing Mix Essay All businesses offer some form of service as part of the product that they supply to customers. This is true of businesses supplying manufactured goods, as well as those that only supply services. By meeting (or exceeding) customers expectations, businesses can improve their image and establish a reputation for supplying products with high -quality characteristics. The features of quality service include: * Making sure the customer is safe This is crucial for a high profile business like IKEA otherwise the media will be straight on to them issuing bad press against them, potentially giving IKEA a bad name, furthermore the customer may wish to take legal action if he/she feels mistreated by IKEA. Again causing problems for IKEA. * Delivering good customer service Decisive for IKEA to maintain the good name they have, customers in this day and age will not accept poor service, otherwise its likely they will look elsewhere. * Improving the quality of the product Its important IKEA continue improving the quality of there products otherwise customers will begin to lose interest in the company due to its lack of creation and continued progress; customers want to see new/improved products on each visit they make to IKEA. * Making sure the customer is not kept waiting If IKEA let customers wait for there service, its likely they will simply leave the store and go else where, so its important there staff are motivated and wanting to give IKEA a good name. * Demonstrating good after sales care Once the sale is done its easy to take the money and thats it, but with IKEA if a problem arises they will want to help the customer in any way possible. Its vital for them to retain customers and not lose them to a competitor, and clearly IKEA are doing a good job at this as there profits continue to increase meaning the customers are happy with how they are treated both before and after sales. To see how business offer service in practice, lets look at some real examples. IKEA sells their products ready to be fitted, meaning the products they sell have to match customers precise requirements and also come with good instructions to help them build it at home. Otherwise people will see it as a hassle, meaning they re less likely to purchase from IKEA again. IKEA has bought it self a good name due to fact they offer good after sale services so if needed to contact a member of staff its possible, they give you a good instructional manual, if thats not enough you can phone them, email them or even talk 1 to 1 with a member of staff on their website via their web chat facility. It is this combination of products together with a range of services that is important in shaping and determining Ikeas reputation, the distinct characteristics of its products and the companys competitiveness. IKEAs website is also a key part in generating sales for there products, its important they describe the product clearly, and give the customer as much information about the product as possible, its less likely that someone will make a visit to IKEA for a product they arent given much information about on their website. The above picture is the basic layout for all IKEA products on there website, it has a clear picture of the product, price, special features, measurements, whether it requires assembly, care instructions, material made out of. It also gives the customer the option to see whether they have that product in stock at your local IKEA store, which from personal experience is very useful and practical. IKEA do give a lot of information which reassures the customer that this is the product they want, giving them a buzz and actually wanting to get down to IKEA as soon as possible to purchase the product. B) Price is the amount charged by a business for its products. The factors determining the price of a product can be summarised as the three Cs: Cost, Competition and Customer value. * The cost of producing the product: If a business is to make a profit, then it clearly needs to charge a price that covers the cost of making and selling the product. * The price charged by competitors: A business might want to charge a price at or below that of its competitors. However, if the product is sufficiently unique and superior, then the business might feel it is acceptable to charge a price above that of its competitors. IKEA excels here, in the sense that it offers prices cheaper then its competitors, putting them ahead of the game. * The price customers are willing to pay: This is determined by the value of the product to the target market. If consumers in the target market believe that they can gain significant benefits from the product, then they will be willing to pay a high price. However, if the product provides few benefits, consumers will only be prepared to pay a low price, for example, the price someone is willing to pay for a house will depend on its location, the number of rooms and other factors such as the size of the garden. A business will consider all these factors before deciding on a price for each of its products. In certain situations, it may be appropriate to set a relatively high price. For example, Ikea may set a premium price on a high quality piece of furniture that is widely recognised as being superior to other similar products made by competitors. In other situations a business may opt to set relatively low prices. For example, a new company operating in a very competitive market may set low prices relative to its competitors in an attempt to win business and build a customer base. IKEA are renowned for their cheap prices and high quality products. This has helped them build a huge reputation, and ultimately there cheap prices are a unique selling point, when people think, where can I get good, yet cheap furniture from? Instantly in most cases they think IKEA. IKEA is renowned for being value for money. c) Promotion is a series of marketing activated designed to make consumers aware of products. The ultimate aim, of course, is to persuade them to buy those products. Promotion is an important part of the marketing mix, and business can use a variety of different types of promotion. One of the methods is advertising, advertising is a means by which businesses pay for communication with actual and potential customers through newspapers, television, radio, the internet and other media. It can be expensive, but advertising is often highly successful in influencing consumers purchasing decisions. Advertising can be informative, by setting out to increase consumer awareness of a product. This type of advertising is based on facts rather then images. On the other hand, persuasive advertising attempts to convince consumers to purchase a certain product. Persuasive advertising aims to persuade that the advertised product is better than the competition. Sales promotion is any activity that provides a financial incentive to purchase a product. For instance Ikea may hand out free samples of food in their newly built restaurant or perhaps have demonstrations of how to put together some of their products to show customers thats its easy, and can be done by anyone. IKEA advertising in the UK is intended to raise awareness of the IKEA brand and drive traffic to the stores. Some people love IKEAs unique style of retail advertising, some hate it, but everyone who sees there advertising has a strong opinion and subsequently it provokes conversation and debate. Despite having some of the most controversial television advertising campaigns in the UK this includes criticising the taste of the British public, invisible furniture, an exaggerated homosexual man advertising for IKEA. IKEA have raised awareness of there brand, let people know they are different to other home furnishing companies and most importantly increased sales. The advertising department includes all aspects of advertising and brand communication from television advertising and sponsorship to magazine and radio promotions. Advertising is used to support many different areas of the business including brand awareness, store themes, catalogue drops and store openings. The term merchandising covers a range of tactics used by businesses at the point of sale (the location at which the products are actually purchased) to achieve higher sales figures. For example, a business might offer retailers special display stands or point-of-sale adverts to encourage them to place the businesss products in a more favourable and prominent position withen stores. Merchandising can be important when: * Consumers make decisions at the point of sale. This includes a lot of information about the product, making it bright, clear and attractive. * Competitors make extensive use of merchandising. * A variety of rival products are on display in stores. * Rival products have only minor differences. Businesses seek good publicity, and public relations (PR) is designed to improve businesses standings in the eyes of consumers and other interested groups,. Larger organisations have their own PR staff. Ikea engage in a variety of PR activity including: * Making donations to charities IKEA support unicef to help young children in less fortunate countries around the world. * Sponsoring sporting and cultural activates, and IKEA support the local community by donating products to schools which dont sell in stores, this is very popular in the community, and keeps the public happy, which creates good press for IKEA. * Allowing the public to visit the business Makes the customer feel more welcome, and at home with IKEA if they feel involved by learning more about the company. Public relations can be a very expensive form of promotion, and it can be difficult for businesses to assess the effect of public relations on sales. Catalogues are a huge part of advertisement for IKEA, its relatively cheap when compared to TV adverts, and its fairly easy to get to the customer, IKEA print 131 million copies of there catalogue making it the most widely distributed commercial publication in the world. Having picked up a couple of the latest IKEA catalogues and handbooks, its clear that IKEA thrive on simplicity. The IKEA text is the same font on all brochures, with the traditional blue and yellow logo on the bottom hand side of the page this creates continuity which means people recognise it straight away when they see it again, the traditional yellow and blue logo is based on the colours of there home country Sweden. The background images are warm, cosy, family pictures, one containing a large sofa with numerous pillows, the other an aqua blue kitchen. This gets the message across to the reader that there is a large range of products available, furthermore on the front cover they get the message about there prices, Pay less, enjoy more and your 100 page guide to making an affordable, inspired choice. This encourages the public to go through the IKEA catalogue. Furthermore the catalogue brings the IKEA store into your home, its the best way to prepare for a visit to IKEA. d)Place is another term for distribution. It covers the range of activities necessary to ensure that goods and services are available to customers. Deciding on the right place involves a range of decisions. A business needs to consider the most cost-effective way of getting its products and service to the customers. It needs to look at the implications for its profit margins of each means of distribution. The growth in use of the internet has encouraged even small businesses to use websites to sell their products to what can be a global market. This can be highly cost effective means of reaching a wide target audience, but is not suitable for all business and all products. Businesses seek to design marketing mixes that are complementary and work together to benefit the business and to maximise sales. For example, Ikea promotes itself to its target audience on the basis that it offers the lowest possible prices. Place is important to Ikea, and the company locates stores in areas where it costs less to set up, eg on the outskirts of major cities. Which targets both high income earners and low. IKEAs transport methods are highly effective, large volumes in combination with flat packages are important in helping IKEA to transport products economically from the supplier via the stores to the customers. Flat packs mean that IKEA do not have to pay for transporting or storing unnecessary air and that not only means lower warehousing and distribution costs, but also less impact on the environment. At present 20 % of all IKEA goods are transported by rail. 6) It makes sense for Ikea to target a wide range of customers. This is referred to as mass marketing. But theres the other side of it where in some situations they will target small sections of the market. Taken to the limit, this might involve catering for a small select group of customers a target market that has very specific needs. I.E childrens section. In mass marketing, Ikea would aim their products at most of the available market and normally try to sell a range of similar products to all customers. Mass marketing is possible if the products are popular and purchased by many different types of people. For example Ikeas furniture products are well suited to being sold in mass markets. Businesses must be able to produce on a large scale if they are to sell successfully in a mass market. A company may have to invest heavily in resources such as buildings, machinery and vehicles. Usually, firms also have to be very price competitive to flourish in mass markets. By contrast, niche marketing involves companies identifying and meeting the needs of relatively small areas of the market. The aim is to cater for the needs of customers that have not been met sufficiently by other business, and niche marketing is one way in which small businesses can operate profitably in markets that are dominated by large firms. An example would be Ikea and their play pen for younger children. Market research helps businesses to identify whether they should adopt a mass or niche marketing strategy. In general, this would depend on: * Whether the needs of customers within all parts of the market are being met. * The extent to which a business can provide specialist products capable of meeting the needs of select groups of customers. This gives IKEA good idea whether there is a need for a unique product on the market, or a product aimed at a special selection of customers, doing this research could potentially uncover new opportunities for them. * The degree to which competitors are currently meeting the needs of all customers within the market. 7) Market research is the systematic collection and analysis of data to enable a business to take better quality marketing decisions. In simple terms, market research allows businesses to find out what customers want. There are a number of reasons why businesses invest in market research. To determine whether IKEA should focus on mass marketing or niche marketing, they can use market research. Most products are only likely to be mainly purchased by particular groups of customers: the market of young working-class males, for example, is very different to that of middle aged wealthy couples. Market research can assist a firm in identifying which parts of the market are most likely to buy its products. It is vital for a business to know who its customers are. This allows the business to: * Design products to best meet the needs of these customers This makes it more efficient at what it does as it specifically meets the needs of IKEAs customers, meaning its something which grabs there attention, or they can relate to and want to purchase. * Target advertising, promotions and special offers at these groups People like a bargain, once they see a discount on a product they are looking for they are likely to purchase it from IKEA. * Conduct further in-depth research with specific groups of customers to uncover their needs as fully as possible. 5) Businesses need to know whats happening in the market. To be able to plan its product and marketing effectively, a business like Ikea needs to address three important questions. What is the size of the market? A way of measuring the size of the market is to consider the volume of sales made by all businesses selling furniture. What is the structure of the market? This means discovering the number and size of businesses that make up a market. Are there, for example a few large firms, or many small firms? Or a mixture of large and small firms? If a business is in competition with large firms, it may decide to avoid competing on price terms as larger firms may be able to produce their products more cheaply. Is the market growing or shrinking? Market research can reveal what is happening to sales in market over a period of time. A business may feel more confident about entering a market which is growing, as it should be easier to win sales when some customers are not yet loyal to particular brands or manufactures. The market for DIY furniture has kept growing recently mainly due to Ikeas success. If IKEA are planning on releasing a new product, its likely they will do research into other products in a similar field to see whether the market for them specific products are increasing or decreasing. This will give them a good idea whether it is worth a full-scale launch of the product they have in mind. 9) Total Quality Control is the most necessary inspection control of all in cases where, despite statistical quality control techniques or quality improvements implemented, sales decrease.The major problem which leads to a decrease in sales was that the specifications did not include the most important factor, What the customer required. To maintain their quality and standards is vital to IKEA, the quality and reliability and workmanship of their products is crucial to there brand. Both to keep their customers and to be legally correct. * Marketing had to carry out their work properly and define the customers specifications. * Management had to confirm all operators are equal to the work imposed on them and holidays, celebrations and disputes did not affect any of the quality levels. * Inspections and tests were carried out, and all components and materials, bought in or otherwise, conformed to the specifications, and the measuring equipment was accurate, this is the responsibility of the QA/QC department. * Any complaints received from the customers were timorously and satisfactorily dealt with. This will help keep IKEA a favourites with the customers. To conclude, the above forms the basis from which the philosophy of Quality Assurance has evolved, and the achievement of quality or the fitness-for-purpose is Quality Awareness throughout the company. IKEA hire highly trained quality control workmen, to check that the products in the warehouse are looked after sensiblely and that they are delivered to the customer effeciantly. Quality control is to check that there product meets customer demands and possibly look for ways to improve it. Its important for a business like IKEA to have regulary quality control checks to make sure that the products they sell are always up to standards, making sure the high IKEA standards dont drop without them being aware. To make sure of this IKEA have a test lab in Almhult which tests both textiles and furniture, around 50,000 tests are carried out in accordance with current standards each year. For several years in succession the IKEA Test Lab has been accredited for it quality system and test methods in accordance with the international standards. All these tests have been developed to correspond to many years of regular use in a domestic enviroment in the areas for which the product is intended. IKEA not only test products during development, but also selects random samples from among the products on sale in the stores. As IKEA say It is our customers that we want to come back not our products This makes sure that IKEAs customers get there full value for money and a long lasting product.

Analysis of impulse buying

Analysis of impulse buying Impulse buying is defined as a buying action undertaken without the problem having been previously recognized or a buying intention formed prior to entering the store. Operational Definition Shoppers are asked upon exiting the store what items they purchased. For each item, they are then asked some variant of the question when they decided to buy; before or after entering the store. The items purchased whose decisions were made after entering the store are impulse purchases. Problems identified with impulse buying studies: There are three main problems with the earlier research on impulse buying Prior studies conducted were based on a taxonomical research approach which classified products into impulse and non-impulse categories. This tends to ignore that fact that almost anything can be bought on an impulse. This approach is ineffective because it divert attention from the internally triggered motivations and their expression which is crucial to understand impulse purchase. At the end of the day, it is people, not products that show impulse consumption behaviour. Not all impulse buying can be categorized as unplanned purchase and vice versa. A lot of purchase which are not planned can be a result of stimulation in the minds of the consumer inside the store which leads to recall of the purchase which they planned long before but had been delayed or postponed. It is incorrect to classify such behaviour under impulse. Impulse buying drops down to a much narrow and specific range of phenomenon than may come under unplanned purchase. To clarify it can be said that impulse buying occurs when a consumer experiences a sudden, often powerful and persistent urge to buy something immediately (Hoch Loewenstein,1991) There hardly exist any theoretical models or framework on impulse buying behaviour. Previous work has not offered any behavioural model to explain impulse buying in totality. Especially if we look at the functional or implementation level for the marketers, there hardly exist any organized reference models to use impulse purchase as a tool to improve sales. Many models link arousal and purchase indirectly linked by some external variable. But they have no mention of phenomena where arousal leads directly to purchase. Five factors that affect impulse purchase: 1. Navigating through categories lead to impulse buying: I found this paper on e-Commerce that had a very interesting study on impulse buying and what causes it. The paper studied habits of consumers shopping online, and found that people browsing through products by clicking categories were more likely to buy something on impulse than people searching for stuff online. The rationale is that people navigating through categories get exposed to a much greater breadth of products than people looking for products through search. 2. Power Distance Belief (PDB): I found this research paper that discusses the concept of Power Distance Belief (PDB) and its impact on impulse buying. I am not sure if I fully agree with it, or even understand it, but its a really interesting and novel take on the subject. Power -distance belief is the degree of power disparity that the people of a culture expect and accept. Higher the PDB, the more a person expects and accepts disparity in power. Eastern cultures like China and India have a high PDB and western cultures like America have a low PDB. A low PDB results in greater impulse buying, and a high PDB results in lower impulse buying. The reason for that people is eastern cultures who expect more power disparity, are also brought up to practice self restraint much more than people in western cultures who dont expect so much power disparity. 3. Prosperity: I really dont need research to tell me that prosperity leads to impulse buying. During the peak of the recession impulse buying was not even something I thought about, let alone engage in. Now, that the situation has markedly improved, a lot of people are engaging in it, including myself. 4. Shiny stuff causes impulse buys: According to this piece, things that are sparkly, noisy, jiggly, furry, fuzzy, or have any other feature that makes them draw attention will sell well on impulse. This makes sense too, because the more attention something draws, the more likely it is that you will think about it and end up buying it. 5. Price: This factor is the most talked about when it comes to impulse buying. A lot of people say that they indulged in impulse buying just because something was on a discount. I am sure deals and discounts contribute to impulse buying, and when we see something priced much lower than what we are used, that triggers a desire to get that thing and save money. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3374/is_n13_v12/ai_9204083/?tag=content;col1 Visual aid to trigger impulse purchase: Emotions are at heart of impulse buying decisions Todays retail stores are almost universal in their reliance on self-service merchandising and a high rate of impulse buying. Self-service merchandising is facilitated by store design and careful attention to traffic flow, while impulse buying is enhanced by the use of special displays. Estimates shows that at least 5 percent of total sales are the result of special displays. Impulse sales are created not by persuasive reasoning, but by striking an emotion that the customer can act upon quickly. There appear to be three mechanisms by which the impulse buying response can be triggered. First, the special display cues the customer to respond to an external advertising campaign. The display creates impulse sales by reminding customers about the extensive advertising to which they have (hopefully) been exposed. Second, the display can serve to break the consumers conditioned reflex to buy a particular product. If the consumer buys Brand A because it has become a habit, then it will be necessary for them to have a reason to break this conditioned purchase behavior. Special displays provide a way to accomplish this because the consumer is responding emotionally, not through a reasoned process. Finally, special displays create impulse sales for new or novel products by instigating the desire to try something new! The salient feature to remember about impulse sales is that they are a response to an emotional appeal. A successful appeal may take many forms, but those most universal and easiest to communicate are identified by simple phrases such as: low price, new, free, extra, etc. A special display is used to get the customers attention for each of these messages. To be successful in creating sales, each of the special displays must meet two objectives. The first and most basic is to get noticed. This is accomplished by positioning the display, where it is easily seen (either on an end cap, or sticking out from a shelf). However, given the competition for customer attention, this often is not enough. Methods of increasing visibility include bright colors, maximizing separation from the shelf or general merchandise, and massive size. Using special displays to increase impulse sales. To be successful in creating sales, each of the special displays must meet two objectives. The first and most basic is to get noticed. This is accomplished by positioning the display, where it is easily seen (either on an end cap, or sticking out from a shelf). However, given the competition for customer attention, this often is not enough. Methods of increasing visibility include bright colors, maximizing separation from the shelf or general merchandise, and massive size. The space and situation will dictate which method is appropriate. If, for example, the objective is to increase soft drink sales, this most likely is best accomplished by creating a large display with prominent signing. You also would want to increase impulse sales by creating a display of related merchandise such as snack foods and barbecue supplies. However, if less space is available, then the traditional `shelf-talkers and checkout counter displays are more useful approaches. Another excellent method for attracting attention is the use of special lighting. Lighting not only attracts attention to products, but also communicates a message. Incandescent light creates a softer, warmer image associated with quality. Coloured lighting can be used to achieve other effects. The second objective of a special display is to create an impulse to buy. The message must be clear, immediate, and the action required, unambiguous. Of course, the trick is knowing how to communicate an emotional appeal that translates into the `buy me now message. For chain drug stores, the messages that are most likely to be consistent with the merchandising mix and business policy are price and convenience (Ted Gladson Emotions are at heart of impulse buying decisions.) Model to explain purchase behaviour: Any visual contact with the product or product related communication produces a stimulus or need to look at the product and try it. This leads to development of an attitude towards the product stimulus and leads to three situations: Affect This leads to Behaviour Cognition Reliance martC:UsersnimishDesktopRelianceMart at Ahmedabad.JPG Spread across 165,000 square feet of shopping area, RelainceMart will provide the shoppers a never before experience shopping delight. The hypermarket will carry a range of over 95,000 products catering to the entire family. Shoppers will have the option to choose from a wide array of products in every category ranging from Fresh Produce, Food Grocery, Home Care Products, Apparel and Accessories, Lifestyle Product, Footwear and much more. RelianceMart offers some unique services to the shoppers like tailoring, shoe repair, watch repair, a photo shop, gift services and laundry services all within the store. The store also houses its own fresh bakery serving hot off the oven bread and bread products throughout the day and local savories, an ice-cream train for the kids, a chakki, ready-made batter and loose tea and pickle for the housewives. RelianceMart will also sell fine jewellery and fashion jewellery as a part of its Lifestyle section. RelianceMart will also house a health and wellness store providing pharmaceutical drugs and other wellness products. For the shoppers convenience, the store has a cafeteria providing quality food and beverages for ready consumption, an ATM machine and a consumer service / membership desk to provide the customer a truly international shopping experience. RelianceMart with 61 check-out counters has for the first time in India introduced the Mobile POS system for faster check outs. This is aimed at reducing the customer wait time. The store planning, atmospheries and layout has been designed specifically to provide a complete solution to the customer. RelianceMart will remain open from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. seven days a week. The store has over 400 highly skilled and trained customer sales representatives. STAR BAZAAR The uniqueness of each Star Bazaar store lies in the size and spread of its merchandise range. Shoppers can select from a large range of staples, fresh goods, apparel, luggage, consumer durables, household products and much more and also enjoy the benefit of generous reductions on the market rate.C:UsersnimishDesktopimages.jpg The stores stock goods according to regional customer preferences, as customers in different regions favour different essentials. For instance, in Gujarat, people tend to stock up on their pulses whereas in northern India, basmati rice is a big item. Star Bazaar is aware that people today look at value as a critical component while shopping. And that the first visit may be put down to curiosity, but customers will keep coming back only if they are satisfied with the choices, the quality and the value of the products on sale. So the big focus is on understanding its customers who they are, what they want, what is relevant to them, and how to package it in a manner that makes the store more attractive to them. PRIMARY RESEARCH FINDINGS (All the information used below is taken from the quantitative and qualitative study done for this dissertation) The figure shows the percentage of respondents ever visited one of these stores. 97% of the respondents said that they have visited Big Bazaar at least once, followed by reliance mart, Star Bazaar and Vishal mega mart in the respective order. Factors leading to choice of a hypermarket store Quantitative research shows that the factors affecting the choice of hypermarket store can be broadly classified into three categories: Category Factors Most important Location Variety Discounts Average importance Brand name Quick billing Ease of finding product Quality Experience Least important Size of store Assistance in shopping Shopper Behaviour Trends Pre Planning of purchase From the research it is evident that majority of the shoppers prefer planning their purchase before going to shopping. Research says almost two third (74%) of the respondents pre plan their purchase. This may include everything from the written plan to the mental plan the shopper has. More expenditure than planned Even when a majority plans their purchase, most of the time shoppers end up spending more than planned in a hypermarket. From the above graph it is evident that almost 60% spend more than planned almost every time they go out shopping in a hypermarket. This extra amount can be attributed to the impulse purchase of the shoppers, which means that even when the shopper plans the purchase before entering a hypermarket they still end up purchasing products out of the list. Relationship between preplanning of the purchases and actual impulse behaviour The above figure shows how impulse purchase varies with pre planning of the purchase by the shopper in a hypermarket. It shows some relation between the two: Among the people who end up spending more every time, 61% are the ones who plan their purchase and rest 39% are the ones who dont plan. Among the people who hardly ever spend more than planned, 86% plan their purchase and 14% do not plan. Hence, pre planning of purchase can affect the overall impulse purchase but the impact is very less and consumers planning of purchase dont really influence to their impulse behaviour. It clearly suggests that a good number of purchase decisions are actually taken inside the store. Thus, opens a huge window of opportunity for marketers to influence their behaviour in favour of their product. Mode of payment preferred The number of credit and debit card users in India is climbing fast, and rising affluence is likely to erode Indians lingering reluctance to spend on credit. Indians have traditionally valued thrift and frugality. But the spread of affluence in the wake of rapid economic growth is challenging these values, at least for many middle-class and high-income families. One sign of this is the phenomenal growth in the number of credit and debit cards in India-in the past three years, the number of credit cards has more than doubled and the number of debit cards has almost quadrupled. It has been observed that the mode of payment can influence pain of payment. Since paying by the card will feel less painful than paying in cash, participants will spend more with card. Similar trend is observed in the above pie chart, which says almost 60% of the shoppers today prefer using their credit/debit cards in place of cash. Relationship between mode of payment and impulse purchase From the above figure it is clear that people who end up spending more in form of impulse purchase are the ones who prefer card over cash. On the other hand people using cash hardly ever spend more than planned. Thus, mode of payment can be very significant in influencing the purchase behaviour, especially impulse purchase, since the pain of spending is much less in card payment. Purchase from attractive kiosk The above pie chart shows how product placement and point of purchase communication influence the shopper behaviour. Retail Communication helps the retailers generate sales by using any one or a mix of these outputs and inform, persuade and remind customers about the retailer and its offers. Stores use tools such as visual merchandising, signage and graphics, and other forms of point-of-purchase communication (PoP) to achieve an effective in-store strategy. The consumer response from the above figure shows that 61% of the total respondents show an intention to purchase from an attractive kiosk for product launch or promotion. The above graph shows the trend of actual purchase from such kiosks. It clearly suggests that shopper may try it at times but it depends on various factors such as (findings from depth interviews): Price When it comes to picking up product on impulse from a promotional kiosk, price matters a lot. People would not want to risk buying an expensive product, which they dont have a prior experience with. At low price the risk associated with the purchase gets reduced a lot and results in high trial rate. Category openness to new product depends a lot on the importance of that product in our daily lives. For example, women are very particular about the cosmetic products that they use and are not open to experiment much on the other hand product category like snacks and chocolates does not pose any such risk. Thus, product category also influence this impulse purchase behaviour. Brand Brand name brings with it trust and reliability, which reduces the risk associated with a product trial and shoppers are more open to buy such products. For example, Apple launches its new products and even before the reviews comes out, brand loyalist buys them, because of the trust Apple has built over the years. Packaging Visual appeal plays a very important role in differentiating the product from hundreds of other products kept in a hypermarket. Packaging cannot just attract the customer but can also lead to final purchase because it is the first POP communication by the product. Brands like Parle Agros Hippo took this insight and launched the product in almost all hypermarkets and have been very successful. Discounts / offers Most of the time trial can be triggered by offering discount or some promotional scheme. In this way marketers can reduce the risk by adding more value to their offering. Also, it catches eye and the psyche of Indian customer is such that it looks for higher value at lower cost. It also creates a sense of urgency because even when customer does not need the product he/she may buy thinking that the discount may or may not be available in future. This result in impulse purchase for the purpose to stock. Purchase near billing area Billing counter is the most strategic location to trigger impulse buying behaviour in the shopper. Few factors that affect are: Time Most of the times in Indian hypermarkets people have to stand in queues before billing, this extra bit of time is when they actually think of other things they wanted to buy but may have forgotten. Presence of products around Area near the billing counter is full of products that are high on impulse purchase. These products are not the low priced and mostly eatables. For example, chocolates, toffees, chewing gums, chips, etc. Presence of such products generally tempts the shopper to pick them. The whole experience of shopping happening all around them leads to such behaviour. Influence of others purchase There is a saying that grass on the other side is always green, which holds true with Indians, while shopping too. Every person carrying a product in its shopping cart is marketing for the product. We also tend to look at other peoples shopping cart when we are waiting in the queue and that is the time when we recall most of the items that we need but forgot to buy. This is a major reason of impulse purchase in a hypermarket as compared to that of traditional retail format. Fear of loss Section wise unplanned visit The movement of the shopper inside a hypermarket is the most important thing to study for a marketer because it is very important for any manufacturer to place the product in such a way that it is visible enough to the shopper so that they can make up their mind and buy it. Impulse purchase is hugely dependent on the way the shopper move inside the store. From the research, the above graph shows what sections of the hypermarket witness highest unplanned visit. Most of the times shopper just walk through the section even when there is no intention of buying any product. Looking broadly at the various sections the hypermarket is divided, I listed down the major ones. From the above figure it is clear that: Highest unplanned visit happens in Snacks section that includes chips, biscuits, wafers, chocolates and other packaged snacks. Research shows 71% of the total respondents visit these sections even when they had no plan of buying anything from these sections initially. This is because of the following reasons: Price: Temptation: After snacks comes apparel and personal care section. Here Category bought on impulse QUALITATIVE findings Factors affecting the purchase behaviour and specifically impulse purchase in a hypermarket: Time Hypermarket is a retail format which offers a wide variety of products and practically all the consumer needs can be met at that very place. In such a situation it becomes important for them to spend time inside and take a look at every section of the hypermarket. During the depth interviews, there has been a significant change in the shopper movement and behaviour when given a situation where they have some extra bit of time to spend in the store. For example, they were given a situation where they came for a movie but got tickets of the show that is 2 hours late. Now, they have these 2 hours and they enter a hypermarket when they had no intention to visit the store initially. The response shows that now there movement would not be driven by the pre planned intention but the choice they unconsciously make. Sections they prefer to visit now are the ones which will witness maximum impulse behaviour. During the interviews it was evident that in such a situation maximum number of shoppers would want to visit the apparel and footwear section. Below table shows how the behaviour vary with different age groups. This is an important indicator for marketers and retailers to generate impulse purchase by placing their products at the entry or exit of these category sections. Disposable money (amount willing to spend on different categories) The amount a shopper carrying is also a very significant factor that influence his/her movement inside the store and hence impulse purchase. During the depth interviews, the respondents were given a situation where they were asked to imagine a situation where they are having some extra money and they wont mind spending it that days shopping. There was again a significant change in the behaviour in this situation as this extra amount psychologically give them the freedom to wander in sections that earlier they avoided because lack of money not lack of interest or time. This behaviour is again is important for marketers and retailers to generate impulse purchase by placing their products at the entry or exit of these category sections. In this case, there is a higher chance of impulse behaviour due to availability of extra cash and high intention of purchase. Payment mode Mode of payment is also a very important factor which came into light by observing shoppers at the store and depth interviews. To conduct this study I traced shopper movement inside the store and their purchase trends. If was evident that people end up spending more when they dont pay in cash because the pain of payment is very low in card as compared to that of cash. In store design Billing Counter From the above research it is quite evident that products kept near billing counter have a high probability to stimulate impulse buying behaviour. Various factors like time of queue, access to others shopping cart and the mental satisfaction of buying products contributes to this behaviour. It is designed in such a manner that while waiting in the queue you cannot avoid the sight of the products. Most of the times the products found are low priced and discounted like chewing gums, chocolates, chips, soft toys etc. Shelf placement Shopper movement Entrance Exit Shopping frequency and impulse The above graph explains the relation between shopping frequency and impulse purchase behaviour. Generally, people going for shopping everyday do not spend more than planned. It is evident from the higher number of respondents in the last three categories of everyday shoppers. On the other hand people going shopping less often tends to spend more than planned most of the time which is clear from the fact that first three categories are high on once in 3 months purchasers. Recommendations Promoting impulse buying behaviour Businesses who wish to promote their products and focus on impulse buying should create an environment where shoppers can be comforted and relieved of their negative perceptions of impulse. They should focus on the relative reasoning of impulse buying in their marketing efforts. Similarly, they should also focus on the non-economic rewards of impulse buying. Additionally, businesses can make the environment more complex, further straining consumers abilities to process information accurately. Such techniques as stocking more merchandise, creating stimulating atmospherics, and increasing information may be useful to stimulate impulse buying. Businesses have to make impulse purchasing more risk-free, through convenient return policies, or increase enablers such as credit and store hours. Importantly, this model also offers options for consumers to control their buying impulses, if they choose to, or feel better about their impulse buying, by relieving their negative evaluations of impulse. How to promote impulsive buying Emphasise needs versus wants Highlight that it will not impact on their shopping budgets over time Create a store environment which dazzles them and where they lose control Provide flexible payment methods. Some people have less cash in your wallet and sometimes leave credit cards at home Avoid making the customer wait 24 hours before making an unplanned purchase Demonstrate that this deal/offer will not last tomorrow before they realize that such deals occur on a regular basis Stress on the emotional aspect of owning the product. Good amount of effort should be put into messages which should make consumers recognize that buying on impulse is not bad. Once consumers recognize that products are more than commodities and that they are buying to please their desires, they will feel more comfortable with the impulse buying decision. Product trial There is a wide gap between the points where the product visual generates the stimulus to final purchase. To minimize this gap and to convert all stimuli into action product trial can prove very effective. This helps customers check the quality of the product and its utility, such an experience can reinforce the buying impulse and the need to buy starts dominating. Some well known things about impulse buying Traditionally impulse buying is defined as Unplanned buying refers to all purchases made without such advance planning and includes impulse buying, which is distinguished by the relative speed with which buying decisions occur. Impulse buying occurs when a consumer experiences a sudden, often powerful and persistent urge to buy something immediately. The impulse to buy is hedonically complex and may stimulate emotional conflict. Also, impulse buying is prone to occur with diminished regard for its consequences. Why people buy impulsively? Some say that it acts as a stress reliever Perceive it as the best buy of that time People are captivated as an audience Consumers have extra money in their budget These are some of the characteristics of impulsive buying Unplanned, Spontaneous and intense urge to buy the purchaser often ignoring the consequences Without much prior knowledge of the product or intension to buy A kind of emotional and irrational purchase often for reasons like fun, fantasy and social and economic pleasure Consumer often regret their purchase after purchasing Internal factors affecting impulsive buying Depends on the mood of the individual, positive mood triggers impulsive buying Impulsive buying is more a need than a want Potential entertainment and emotional worth of shopping Cognitive/affective External factors affecting impulsive buying Windows display Visual merchandising In-store form display Promotional signage Word of mouth messages E-commerce Impact of impulsive buying on the consumer Disturbs the overall financial budget Often gives product dissatisfaction and less alternatives are considered People who go for impulsive buying often have post purchase regret Irrational decision making being more emotional http://www.focus.com/briefs/marketing/impulse-buying-boosting-your-bottom-line/ Limitations People in the city are not used to research hence they were not very responsive or had less idea on how to answer certain questions. As a student, I had limited amount of resources (money, time, contacts etc) to spend on this research. This research has been conducted in two hypermarkets (Reliance mart and star bazaar), the research findings cannot be extended to all hypermarkets in India. This restricts the scope of applying the findings. There are various psychological factors driving impulse behaviour which cannot be covered in this study due to knowledge limitation. Hence the findings cannot be extended to these areas.